Maria "Oscura" López Melendez
Appearance :Oscura has a very petite and small body type, with black hair cut short in a pixie-style cut and parted down the side. Street Clothes :Maria normally wears skinny jeans of varying colors, as well as short-sleeved or sleeveless shirts, also of varying colors. One thing that is constant is her pair of knee-high Converse shoes, which are black with orange laces. Maria usually leaves her pants tucked into them, but there are some times when she actually wears normal jeans and lets the pants legs hang over the shoes freely. She also has a slightly-too-large black leather jacket whose sleeves fall over her hands, and wears sunglasses nearly all the time... except at night or in darkness, of course. Uniform :As a member of the Doom Patrol, Maria must wear the uniform. It is made of six parts: the blue spandex suit, complete with a green skull on the torso; green bloomers; green gloves that reach nearly to her elbows; green boots that stop about mid-calf; a green neckbrace that doubles as a communicator; and a blue full-head mask with black eye-shaped areas that she can see through, that also protect her eyes from light. Personality :Maria is a level-headed girl who prefers talking problems out over violence of any sort. She's quiet without being shy and quite intelligent despite her tendencies to follow others even if the orders aren't very logical. Only once she considers the mission leader a close friend does Maria even consider questioning their orders. When she's particularly emotional, she tends to lapse back into her first language: Spanish. Powers and Abilities Shadow Link :Maria is able to draw power from the darkness around her, in the form of shadows. If her own shadow so much as touches an opponent's, even for a second, Maria can form a link between them and slowly sap their energy... or, if she so chooses, give them her own (she does this for her comrades to enhance their abilities). Shadowstep :Besides the link, Maria is also able to "shadowstep": that is, swath herself in shadow and transport to another shadow within a mile of her original position. Weaknesses :If there are no shadows or darkness, Maria is rendered powerless. For this reason, she does her best to remain near things that have a shadow. Her eyes are also very sensitive to light due to all of the time she spends in darkness. Other Abilities :While in the dark, Maria's pupils dilate until there is only a very thin ring of yellow around them. This gives her perfect night vision, since her pupils take in as much light as possible in the dark. :Oscura is also bi-lingual and can speak fluent Spanish and English. Relationships Family :RELATIONSHIP DESCRIPTION HERE Doom Patrol :RELATIONSHIP DESCRIPTION HERE Drake :DESCRIP History Backstory ---- :Pedro López García and Mia Melendez Ramírez were once part of the original Doom Patrol, led by the Chief, Dr. Niles Caulder. Both Pedro and Mia worked alongside Mento, Elasti-girl, Ambush Bug, Negative Man, Robotman, Vox, Bumblebee, and, after a few years, Beastboy. They married and had a daughter, Maria, who inherited her father's darkness powers and was groomed to become the next Oscuro once Pedro either died or retired from the life of heroics. :Unfortunately, when the original Doom Patrol was wiped out save for Steve Dayton (codename Mento) and Beastboy (who had joined the Teen Titans by this time), Pedro also lost his life. Mia had been home taking care of Maria when she heard the news of Pedro's death, and fled the country to return home to Spain. Mia and Maria remained there until Ulrich Köhler heard of Maria's developing powers from contacts in Spain and visited the Melendez household. Of course, Mia refused to let her dear child join another incarnation of the Doom Patrol, frightened that she would lose Maria like she had lost Pedro. :It soon became obvious that Ulrich wasn't the only one that had heard of Maria's abilities. Mia was approached by many teams, some based in Spain, some international, and still others based in America like Köhler's Doom Patrol. Some of them even attempted to kidnap Maria in the night, but the girl was able to escape through the shadows and return home. Finally, Mia contacted Köhler and agreed to give him Maria, but on one condition: Should Maria choose to leave the team and return home, Köhler would not follow her nor send someone else to bring her back. Köhler agreed, and was able to bring Maria into the United States to follow in her father's footsteps as "Oscura." HEADING #1 ---- :HISTORY DESCRIPTION HERE HEADING #2 ---- :HISTORY DESCRIPTION HERE List of Character Appearances *APPEARANCE #1 *APPEARANCE #2 Character Also Mentioned In: *ARTICLEMENTIONEDIN Notes Category:Browse Category:Content Category:Characters Category:PCs Category:Doom Patrol Category:Earth Category:Humans Category:Night Vision Category:Shadowmancers Category:Stamina Drainers Category:Stamina Imparters Category:Teleporters Category:Titans Together